本研究以1983年侯德健潛赴中國為例，探究主流報紙如何論述這起涉及國族認同爭議的顯例。透過Norman Fairclough批判論述分析，研究發現主流報紙在事件前期出現「去政治化」報導，意圖將事件個人動機化；而在事件後期報導則出現「反共」的論述特徵。本研究進一步透過輔助資料如黨外雜誌與侯德健的自傳，來比較不同的論述視角，則更能夠凸顯主流報紙避談政治因素與認同因素，盡量將事件發展導向有利於當權者的論述特徵。再者，以侯德健為代表有別於官方意識形態的中國國族主義，則彰顯1980年代國族認同的分歧樣貌。

By analyzing the incident of Hou Dejian’s return to China in 1983, this research explores how mainstream newspapers (the Central Daily News, United Daily News, Min Sheng Bao, and Independence Evening Post) involved the complex of national identity when reporting the event. This paper employs Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis to examine the different political tendencies of news outlets, ideological constructs, and social contexts. The findings suggest that newspapers initially tended to personalize the incident of Hou’s return but later uniformly criticized the Chinese Communist Party. This research compares the different discourses from Tangwai magazines and Hou’s autobiography and notes that mainstream newspapers avoided reporting political and ideological issues pertaining to the incident. Finally, Hou’s Chinese consciousness differs from the official nationalism and is indicative of the various national identities prevalent in the 1980s.